To me, the most interesting topic discussed in class or in the textbook would be the River Valley civilizations. There were four separate civilizations, all found on the banks of rivers. Although each one had different characteristics, there are a few facts that remain true of all four civilizations.

The similarities between the civilizations are fairly understandable. First off, the four civilizations were located on rivers. Also, all four civilizations had very similar climates. The climates were warm and dry with seasonal flooding. Each civilization used irrigation to dampen the fairly dry soil between floods. Additionally, all four societies had similarities in politics. Each had kings, who demanded loyalty from all subjects and controlled the food supply.

The first civilization I wish to discuss is the Egyptian River Valley. This civilization first appeared as small groups of settlements around the Nile River. The river provided water and fertile soil for the ancient Egyptians which allowed them to grow crops, including figs, pomegranates, dates and other vegetables. In addition to allowing for agriculture, the river also allowed for mud bricks to build homes, and fish which, with the vegetables they grew, was the entirety of the diet. Also, this civilization had controlled floods, because they based their calendar around the floods. In this society, their kings were depicted as shepherds, although as time went by, the kings were considered Gods.

The second civilization is Mesopotamia. The name means "land between the waters", because this civilization is located between the Tigris and Euphrates. This society has been shown to have had some sort of contact with the Egyptian society. Mesopotamia had no discernable calendar, and this river valley flooded at any time. History has shown that this society recovered a couple times from disaster. Where Egypt was one society with one ruler, Mesopotamia was a series of city-states with...

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...﻿Early RiverValleyCivilizations:
Sumerian Civilization - Tigris & Euphrates Rivers (Mesopotamia)
Egyptian Civilization - Nile River
Harappan Civilization - Indus River
Ancient China - Huang He (Yellow) River
Mesopotmia
Flat plain known as Mesopotamia lies between the two rivers in SW Asia(Middle East) . Because of this region’s shape and the richness of its soil(silt) it is called the Fertile Crescent, the rivers flood unpredictably. Sumerians were first to settle in this region, attracted by the silt.
Disadvantages / Environmental Challenges
1. Unpredictable flooding / dry summer months
2. No natural barriers for protection
3. Limited natural resources - stone, wood, metal
Solutions
1. Irrigation systems
2. Built city walls with mud bricks and ziggurats
3. Traded with people around them for the products they lacked
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
1. One of the first writing systems – Cuneiform
2. Invented wheel, the sail, the plow
3. First to use bronze.
Empires
1. Sargon of Akkad (Akkadian Empire)- 1st empire
2. Hammurabi of Babylon (Babylonian Empire)- 1st law code
Egypt:
GEOGRAPHY
Nile River
1. Egypt’s settlements arose along narrow strip of land made fertile by the river
2. Yearly/predictable flooding and harvesting- agriculturally wealthy
3. Intricate network of irrigation...

...A long, long time ago, before Christ, there were many different RVC’s. RVC is abbreviated for RiverValleyCivilizations. Some main RiverValleyCivilizations that we studied were Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India. These RiverValleys offered many achievements to the people. For example, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India all settled on rivers this was an achievement because they were able to travel, trade, communicate, gather food, and practice religion. These rivers were very important to the RiverValleyCivilizations because they depended on them. Without the help of these rivers they wouldn't have been able to successfully survive.
The IVC started about 2500 BC, along the south-western part of the Indus River. IVC is Indus ValleyCivilizations of ancient India. There were four civilizations counting the IVC. There was the Aryans, Maurya Empire, Gupta Empire and of course the Indus ValleyCivilization. Each civilization had different impacts of geography, government, religion, job specializations, social classes and achievements.
The IVC had large organized cities. Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro are considered the twin capitals. They were settled on the Indus River...

...third of Mohenjo-Daro’s ruins, covering three miles in circumference (Wheeler 6), have been excavated since its discovery (Archeological). Unfortunately today “the foundations of the sight are threatened by saline action due to a rise of the water table of the Indus River” (Archeological). The artifacts recovered from Mohenjo-Daro have yielded many great insights into the lives of pre-Maurya Empire civilizations making the site priceless to the archeological community (Wheeler 1).
Archeologists are still not able to tell exactly who occupied the city but they collectively refer to its people and other nearby cities as the Indus Civilization (Roach). Today it is believed that Mohenjo-Daro was one of two Harrapan Kingdom capitals, the other being Harappa 350 miles to the north-east (Wheeler 5). In comparison to the other ancient Asian cities “its urban planning surpasses that of many other sites of the oriental civilizations that were to follow”. Since “Mohenjo-Daro is the most ancient and best preserved urban ruin in the Indian subcontinent” it is one of the most desirable sights in the world for excavations (Archeological).
While excavating in India, Sir John Marshall came to the conclusion that the Indus civilization at its peak was much larger than Mesopotamian Empires and Old Egypt (McIntosh 32). In fact, during the city’s life it was historically very powerful and wealthy, most notably seen...

...The Indus ValleyCivilization
About Indus ValleyCivilization
The earliest traces of civilization in the Indian subcontinent are to be found in places along, or close, to the Indus River. Excavations first conducted in 1921-22, in the ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, both now in Pakistan, pointed to a highly complex civilization that first developed some 4,500-5,000 years ago, and subsequent archaeological and historical research has now furnished us with a more detailed picture of the Indus ValleyCivilization and its inhabitants. The Indus Valley people were most likely Dravidians, who may have been pushed down into south India when the Aryans, with their more advanced military technology, commenced their migrations to India around 2,000 BCE.
Let’s find out what they have discovered!
Location of the Indus valleycivilization
The Indus ValleyCivilization was located in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of what is now mainly modern day Pakistan and northwest India. Flourishing around the Indus River basin, the civilization primarily centred along the Indus and the Punjab region, extending into the Rivervalley and the Ganges-Yamuna Doab.
Houses
Houses...

...Indus Valley Art and Architecture
Architecture:
City planning:
The overall layout of the Indus is based on a grid of right angles. Large streets run in straight lines in north-south directions and are crossed by smaller streets in an east-west direction. The large streets were 33 feet wide and smaller streets ranged from 9 to 12 feet in length. The division of space into separate blocks is seen not only in the layout of the streets but also in house plans, the designs on pottery as well as the diagrams on seals. In contrast to this, the layout of early Mesopotamian cities was quite irregular.
The idea of settlement planning was already well established before 2600 BC and is seen in all the settlements through the Indus. Each city is made up of a series of walled sectors or mounds with massive brick gateways. The orientation of the Indus cities along a north-south and east-west direction was probably linked to religious beliefs.
Drainage:
Well laid out streets and side lanes with drains are one of the outstanding features of the Indus cities, even in smaller towns and villages.
The drains, made of brick, connected the baths and toilets of private houses to medium sized drains in the side streets. These flowed into larger drains in the main streets that were covered with brick and or stone blocks, which were removable for cleaning purposes. Corbelled arches were built to allow...

...There isn’t a lot that historians can conclude about the ancient Indus rivervalleycivilizations, but there is a lot we can infer from analyzing the evidence that was left behind. The ancient people of the Indus rivervalley had great agricultural success due to seasonal monsoon winds creating two crop cycles, which inspired the belief of benevolent gods, a loose government, and likely a peaceful society because resources were abundant. The ancient people learned to manipulate the land, resources, and their time to advance their culture and create methods of urban planning, Indus-glyphs, and conveniences like indoor plumbing. These factors are likely what made the civilizations within the Indus rivervalley so prosperous.
There are many explanations for why the people of the Indus rivervalley were so agriculturally successful, but they all lead back to the fact that they had two crop cycles. Most other ancient rivervalleys depended on a single crop cycle, which doesn’t provide a civilization with the variety or plentiful supply that the people of the Indus rivervalley enjoyed. The reason why the Indus rivervalley had two crop cycles rather than one is due to the winter monsoon and the spring snowmelt. Commonly mistaken for rain...

...the Americas
Early settlements not "civilizations"
Jericho and Catal Huyuk
Domestication of plans and animals leads to a food surplus
Food surplus leads to a specialization of labor creating:
Religion, writing, artisans and goods, merchants and trade, architectural advances, military and improved technologies (Ex. Wheel (3500 BCE), plow, iron)
Iron metallurgy
Bronze Age (3000 BCE)
Iron Age (1300 BCE)
Theme 1 (Interaction between humans and environment) seen with farming and irrigation
Theme 2 (Development and interaction between cultures) seen as Indus and Mesopotamians trade
Americas develop in isolation
As “civilizations” progress, the status of women falls sharply!
The Indus ValleyCivilization (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilization (3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–1900 BCE) extending from what today is northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India (see map).[1] Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia it was one of three early civilizations of the Old World, and of the three the most widespread.[2] covering an area of 1.25 million sq km [3] It flourished in the basins of the Indus River, one of the major rivers of Asia, and the Ghaggar-Hakra River, which once coursed through northwest India and eastern Pakistan.[4]
At its peak, the Indus...

...From roughly 2300 BC until 1500 BC the Indus Valleycivilizations thrived in what is now modern-day Pakistan. The first excavations of the Indus Valley, began by archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler, began in 1921-1922 and uncovered important information of the highly complex civilization. One of the main cities was called Harappa.
Harappa, like Mohenjo-Daro, grew along the Indus River. It came into existence earlier than and lasted longer than the southern city of Mohenjo-Daro. It was well known for its surprisingly advanced town planning. Each town and city was structured like a grid with wide streets which ran perpendicular to one another. Between the large streets were smaller connecting lanes, which were lined with houses. The streets were anywhere from 13 to 30 feet wide and the lanes were between 3.5 to 7 feet wide. The city of Harappa was oriented toward true north, with its main streets running from north to west and the connecting streets running east to west. This city plan demonstrates the civilization’s early knowledge of astronomy.
Harappa was divided into two sections- upper town and lower town. Upper town consisted of a well-fortified citadel which sat on a 40-foot-high mound with a 45-foot-thick brick embankment. The citadel served as a community center in times of peace and a fortress in times of trouble. The existence of the citadel (along with the well planned city) suggested a...